Cassini Resources Meets Western Australia at Crossroads on World’s Largest Ni-Cu Undeveloped Project

Western Australia has often been considered among mineral resource rich regions in the world. Now we have the proof.

Do we, really?

Fraser Institute’s annual mining company ranking study for 2019 has declared Western Australia as the top mining jurisdiction for investment in the sector.

The au courant audiences need to know that Western Australia has been among the top mining jurisdictions in the past years; however, it has been crowned as the most mining investment drawing region only in 2019, moving up 1 place to clinch the milestone in the Investment Attractiveness Index.

The annual survey assesses mining jurisdictions based on mineral potential and competitive policies such as taxation and regulations impacting the mining environment. The survey included 76 jurisdictions across all major regions except Asia.

Australia Retains Second Position of Most Attractive Region

Australia reported a record $290 billion of mineral resource exports in 2019, as per the recent trade stats by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

In fact, as per Fraser Institute’s study on regional level based on mineral potential and regulatory policies, Australia remained as the second most attractive region for mining investments, globally. And, this is reflected by the scale of mining operations carried out in the country.

Major factors for mining attraction include local and federal government policies such as-

• Competitive taxation
• Political uncertainty
• Stability of mining regime
• Regulatory environment
• Mineral potential of the region
• Power, transport and local infrastructure of the target area

However, not all the regions within Australia attract similar level of mining investment, as various regions are ranked differently due to regional government policies, mineral potential and maturity level of mining environment in the region.

Western Australia is ranked highest among all the provinces within Australia, followed by South Australia.

The mining department in WA is considered to be one of the most forthcoming and welcoming in sharing information, drawing investors to park their funds into exploratory projects in the region.

Continuous Exploration to Maintain Mining Dominance

In order to retain its position as a market leader, the province needs to attract investments into the exploration of new projects. In fact, new capital for mining projects in WA stood at ~$17 billion in 2018-19, approximately 51% of the entire Australian value.

In September 2019, Western Australia hosted $25.4 billion worth of major resource projects, which were either under construction or were committed and $82.4 billion under consideration, making the projects standing to be in excess of the $100 billion mark.

WA and Cassini Resources Meet at Crossroads

With the surge in adoption of EVs and growing acceptance of renewable energy as an efficient and stable alternative to conventional sources of electricity, Australia and WA seek to increase the supply of battery metals in accordance to the WA government’s "Future Battery Industry Strategy". West Musgrave is developing the World’s largest undeveloped Ni-Cu project in WA.

Also, with rebound in Nickel prices since late-2018 and inventory stocks around 6-year lows, base & precious metals developer and explorer Cassini Resources Limited (ASX:CZI) could not get into the market at a better time with a better project.

Cassini Resources is advancing Australia's largest undeveloped Nickel-Copper project, the West Musgrave Project (WMP) as we speak.

Meet Cassini Resources’ Leadership Advancing West Musgrave Project: Read Here

WMP is located in the geologically exciting and underexplored region of the West Musgrave locality of Western Australia. The prospects included in the project are as follows, with Nebo-Babel on priority for development-

• Nebo-Babel Deposits - PFS Completed, Nest Step is Bankable Feasibility Study
• Succoth Deposit - Under Advanced Exploration
• One Tree Hill & Yappsu Deposits - Under Exploration

Cassini Resources and OZ Minerals Limited (ASX:OZL), the two co-owners holding 30% and 70%, respectively, recently completed the Pre-Feasibility Study for the Nebo-Babel deposits.

Nebo-Babel would be developed as an open pit operation with average life of mine operating cost for the West Musgrave project at $34.3 per tonne of ore. The project is anticipated to utilise renewable power from a hybrid diesel-solar-wind power station, therefore reducing the carbon footprint of the project.

Interesting Read: PFS Results for Cassini’s World largest unexplored Nickel Copper Project

The significant by-product credits and usage of innovative technologies in minerals processing would reduce the operating and sustaining costs during the long life of 26 years for the operations.

Cassini Resources, which does not need to fund the project prior to development stage, is currently in talks with multiple investors to secure investment (attributable share of total upfront project capital expenditure is 30% of $995 million) for the development of the project.

WMP has an NPV of ~$800 million, bringing Cassini’s share to around $240 million, presenting immense possibilities for value creation for the project.

CZI closed at $0.085 a share on 27 February 2020 on ASX with a market capitalisation of $37.21 million.

Cassini Resources’ West Musgrave Nickel-Copper project in Western Australia would be a game changer for the region, given the long-life, low-cost and low carbon nature of the project in the matured mining friendly environment of WA.

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